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Quinone Methide Precursors as Realkylators of Acetylcholinesterase for Post-aging Treatment of Organophosphorus Poisoning DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Qinggeng Zhuang Graduate Program in Chemistry The Ohio State University 2017 Dissertation Committee: Professor Christopher M. Hadad, Advisor Professor Thomas J. Magliery Professor Kotaro Nakanishi Copyrighted by Qinggeng Zhuang 2017 Abstract Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a serine hydrolase found in brain synapses, neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) and erythrocytes. Its role is to silence nerve impulses by selectively hydrolyzing acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Inhibition of AChE can lead to accumulation of acetylcholine at synapses and NMJs; if left untreated, the symptoms can lead to death. Organophosphorus (OP) chemical nerve agents are a type of suicide inhibitors for AChE, leading to phosphylation of the catalytic serine; such phosphylation blocks the critical nucleophilic serine residue in the active site. OPs have been used as pesticides and chemical warfare agents, and exposure to these compounds results in the death of thousands of people every year. Clinically, OP poisoning can be treated by a combination of anti-cholinergic drugs and oximes. However, a dealkylation process referred to as aging can follow inhibition. To date, the aged form of AChE has been recalcitrant to reactivation by any oxime. A straightforward post-aging treatment is to reverse aging by realkylation of the oxyanion on the phosphylated adduct. Quinone methides (QMs) and quinone methide precursor (QMP) have been reported as alkylators of proteins and phosphates. These previous reports imply the possibility to realkylate aged AChE using a QM or QMP. We therefore chose to study the potential of QMPs for the realkylation of aged AChE. ii Our preliminary studies revealed the binding affinity and selectivity of QMPs to AChE active site. We also estimated whether or not the realkylated AChE could be stable enough to prevent rapid re-aging. A series of nine benzyl OPs were synthesized and characterized, particularly in terms of their aging kinetics. The structures of the corresponding inhibited AChE adducts resemble those of QMP-realkylated AChE. Their aging rates were measured and provided insight into the re-aging rates of such QMP- realkylated AChE adducts. Guided by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations, we designed and synthesized a library of QMPs. They were screened against aged forms of electric eel AChE. Several candidates derived from 3-hydroxypyridine successfully realkylated some aged AChE. The lead compound was further investigated in subsequent kinetic studies. Particularly, our lead compound resurrected 30.8% of isopropyl phosphate-aged electric eel AChE in a 30-day reaction, and 9.5% of methylphosphonate-aged AChE after 3 d of reaction. Its efficacy was confirmed by bottom-up proteomics of AChE. We also discovered that such 3-hydroxypyridines have a second function, i.e. reactivation of inhibited or realkylated AChE, but they are less effective than oximes. Offsite alkylation is an undesirable side reaction. By means of a lysozyme alkylation test, we confirmed that our lead compound and other four candidates would not show observable offsite alkylation. The lead compound also proved compatible with Ellman’s assay without causing any false positive signal. To date, despite over 50 years of study, no successful AChE realkylators have been published in any peer-reviewed journals. Our discovery is encouraging and will be a iii lead discovery on which future structure-activity relationship studies will be based. Follow-up studies will be conducted aiming to improve the performances of the current lead, and in due course, the safety and potency of the realkylators will also be tested in vivo. iv Acknowledgments The achievement in our studies is the result of collaboration and teamwork between numerous researchers. I would like to thank all of the people and facilities who have contributed to our research project or supported my work. The first person I thank is my advisor, Dr. Christopher M. Hadad. Despite the great difficulties encountered by earlier researchers and us, your tenacity drove us so far. Such a large and long-term project would not have survived or achieved so much without your guidance and support. Your art to organize our highly diverse research group as well as your encyclopedia-type broad knowledge and amazing memory are prerequisites of this study. To Dr. Christopher S. Callam, thank you for your contributions in candidate drug synthesis and mass spectrometry. And thank you for all of the students you taught and mentored. The experience as an organic lab TA working with you is also a memorable part of my life at OSU. You are one of the best teachers I have met. To Dr. Craig McElroy, Dr. Özlem Dogan Ekici and Brent Sauner, thank you for your support in biochemistry and mass spectrometry. To Dr. Carolyn Reid, Dr. Amneh Young, Ryan McKenney and Thomas Corrigan, thank you for the synthesis of dangerous but indispensable OPs. To Carolyn and Tom again, as well as Andrew Franjesevic, Rachel Dicken, Justin Smith, Stephanie Fabry, Ashley DeYong, Nathan Yoshino, Yusef v Saeed, Harsha Rao, Jonathan Gordon, Andrew Norris, Kimberly Nguyen, Rachel Preston and whoever I may have missed here, thanks for your contribution in the synthesis and/or the testing of the candidate drugs. To our computation team of this project, including Dr. Jeremy Beck, Dr. Ryan Yoder, Andrew Franjesevic again, Keegan Fitzpatrick and Travis Blanton, as well as anyone else I forget or did not meet, thank you for your in silico efforts, which showed us a correct direction to proceed. Without your contribution, drug discovery would have become seeking a needle in the hay. To Dr. Thomas Magliery and your group members, especially Srividya Murali, Dr. Kiran Doddapaneni, Dr. Lihua Nie and Timothy Grunkemeyer, thank you for the useful information you provided and the instrumentation you generously shared with us. To Dr. Vicki Wysocki, Campus Chemical Instrument Center (CCIC) and Zachary VanAernum, thank you for your help in mass spectrometry and proteomics. To Dr. Douglas Cerasoli at USAMRICD, thank you for the gifts of AChE. I would like to thank the National Institutes of Health for financial support (1U01–NS087983) and the Ohio Supercomputer Center for computational resources. I would also like to thank all of my friends, in and out of our research group, and my family for their attention and support of my research efforts. vi Vita June 2007 ...........................................Hainan Middle School 2011....................................................B.S. Applied Chemistry, Wuhan University 2011 to present ..................................Graduate Teaching/Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University Publications Zhuang, Q., Young, A., Callam, C. S., McElroy, C. A., Ekici, Ö. D., Yoder, R. J., and Hadad, C. M. (2016) Efforts toward treatments against aging of organophosphorus- inhibited acetylcholinesterase, Ann NY Acad Sci 1374, 94-104. Li, Z., Liang, T., Lv, S., Zhuang, Q., and Liu, Z. (2015) A Rationally Designed Upconversion Nanoprobe for in Vivo Detection of Hydroxyl Radical, J Am Chem Soc 137, 11179-11185. Liang, T., Li, Z., Song, D., Shen, L., Zhuang, Q., and Liu, Z. (2016) Modulating the Luminescence of Upconversion Nanoparticles with Heavy Metal Ions: A New Strategy for Probe Design, Anal Chem 88, 9989-9995. vii Zhuang, Q. (1999) Cup. China patent 98250572. Fields of Study Major Field: Chemistry viii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... ix List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Structure and Role of Acetylcholinesterase ............................................................... 1 1.2 Organophosphorus Nerve Agents .............................................................................. 3 1.3 Clinical Therapeutics of Organophosphorus Poisoning and Challenges ................... 4 1.4 Retardation and Reversion of Aging .......................................................................... 8 1.5 Other Strategies for Post-aging Treatment .............................................................. 15 1.6 Summary of Dissertation ......................................................................................... 19 1.7 References for Chapter 1 ......................................................................................... 20 Chapter 2: Quinone Methide Precursors ..........................................................................